Executive Summary
After more than a year of pandemic living, learning, and working is beginning to subside, schools and districts are rapidly shifting gears in preparation for bringing students and staff back on campus for full-day instruction, athletics, and extracurricular activities. While there is palpable excitement at the prospect of schools opening back up, we are also aware that many students and families will need some extra support getting back into their daily routines, especially related to in-person attendance. This research report is a forward look into the potential challenges that educators all over the country anticipate will need addressing when school resumes, as well as innovative ideas and strategies to help students readjust to patterns of good attendance and work habits. RaaWee K12 Solutions is working alongside professionals in the education field to develop real-time responses to positively impact student attendance, offer interventions, and prevent increasing rates of truancy and chronic absentee. The report that follows is an in-depth examination of the problems, as well as the solutions we can leverage to foster what’s worked well in this year of growth and opportunity.
Introduction
You may have heard the conventional theory that it takes human beings around three weeks (or approximately 21 days) to form a new or break an old habit. More current research on the topic from University College London (2010) found that the average time it takes to change a behavior is actually 66 days, with individual results ranging from 18 to a staggering 254 days (Lally, Jaarsved, et. al.). Considering that most American families have been participating in school virtually or in hybrid models for the past 365 or more days, we are facing a daunting re-entry process to on-location, on-time, in-person, and full-day instruction.
A majority of adults and young people alike have left behind their past habits of rising to an alarm clock, juggling morning routines, eating breakfast on the fly, navigating rush hour traffic, and arriving at school drop-off…all before the warning bell rings. What we did almost unconsciously before COVID-19, we now have to intentionally reestablish. As our nation starts to open back up and we collectively resume some of our pre-pandemic activities, however, not everything will return to the “way it was”. Thus, we need to predict, anticipate, and plan for student attendance scenarios that may have existed in the past, but have evolved in unique ways. RaaWee K12 Solutions is on the forefront of that curve and is prepared to help schools, districts, families, and children more smoothly reintegrate into their educational environments.
About the Author
Dr. Kim Wallace is a professional educational consultant with Process Makes Perfect. She started her career in public education 27 years ago as a high school instructor before going into site and district administration. She most recently served as the superintendent of a large San Francisco Bay Area district. Kim consults, writes, and presents on the topics of leadership, curriculum and instruction, policy and protocol, and future trends in education.
